The increasing number of new users of distributed networks is increasing the demand for network services with a high level of quality of service (QoS). Furthermore, the increasing volume of multimedia traffic (i.e., voice video, image, and data) from these new users is driving a demand to deliver these services with an acceptable QoS. However, as the traffic over the network increases, the QoS of the network decreases. This currently presents a problem as traditional Internet Protocol (IP) networks provide “best-effort” service. In the public IP-based Internet, it is difficult to provide differentiated QoS for either individual applications or for different types of multimedia traffic. This lack of native QoS support often results in reduced and unacceptable levels of QoS; e.g., Voice-over-IP services with delays of several seconds, and videoconferences with jerky, low-quality video. While this level of service quality may be acceptable for individual use, it is inadequate for business and military needs.
Another trend in distributed networks, which compounds the problem, is the proliferation of wireless applications for voice, fax, paging, data, images, and video. The use of these wireless applications is expanding to global coverage through the use of satellite networks and in-flight data communications services on commercial airlines. These wireless networks generally have lower bandwidths and higher error-rates than traditional wired networks. However, mobile users still require the same QoS for their multimedia applications, whether they're at their desktop or in a tactical environment. Needless to say, mobility and wireless operation complicate the requirement of providing an acceptable end-to-end QoS.
One type of wireless network, in particular, the “ad-hoc,” or Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is particularly sensitive to these issues. MANETs are networks that may be deployed rapidly with little or no assistance and that do not have a central network structure, such as cellular-base stations or overhead satellite assets. The nodes within the MANETs are typically highly mobile and use a variety of wireless network platforms. Furthermore, nodes within the MANET may dynamically enter or leave the network. Therefore, the number of nodes and the disposition of nodes within the MANET are highly fluid and continually changing. By their nature, the MANET complicates the design and implementation of acceptable protocols to support communications between nodes within the network.
Ad hoc networking introduces several important difficulties for traditional routing protocols. First, determining a packet route requires that the source node know the reachability information of its neighbors. Second, the network topology may change quite often in an ad-hoc network. As the number of network nodes increases, the potential number of destinations becomes large, requiring large and frequent exchange of data (e.g., routes, routes updates, or routing tables) among the network nodes. Updates in the wireless communication environment travel over the air, and therefore, consume a great deal of network resources. As the network size increases and as the nodal mobility increases, smaller and smaller fractions of this total amount of control traffic are of practical usefulness. This is due to the fact that as the nodes become more mobile, the lifetime of a link decreases, and the period in which the routing information remains valid decreases as well. It is easy to see that for any given network capacity, there exists a network size and nodal mobility for which all the network capacity is wasted on control traffic.
Existing IP routing protocols that manage wireless networks can be classified either as proactive or as reactive. Proactive protocols attempt to continuously evaluate the routes within the network, so that when a packet needs to be forwarded, the route is already known and can be used immediately. The family of Link-State protocols, such as Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR), is one example of a proactive scheme. Reactive protocols, on the other hand, invoke a route determination procedure on demand only. Thus, when a route is needed, a global search procedure is employed. The classical flood-search algorithms are typical reactive protocols.
The advantage of the proactive protocols is that there is little delay involved in determining the appropriate route. In reactive protocols, the delay to determine a route can be quite significant. Furthermore, the global search procedure of the reactive protocols requires significant control traffic. Because of this long delay and excessive control traffic, pure reactive routing protocols may not be applicable to real-time communication in MANETs. However, pure proactive schemes are also not appropriate for MANETs, as they continuously use a large portion of the network capacity to keep the routing information current. And, as mentioned above, most of this routing information is never used since ad-hoc network nodes often move quite fast.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a hybrid, reactive and proactive, protocol that can be used with wireless ad-hoc networks that provides QoS routing within a hybrid routing protocol.